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Monday, October 10, 2016

Collateral consequences of crime continue to hinder ex-offenders

If you wind up in prison in the U.S., your
punishment doesn’t necessarily end the day you serve out your sentence and go
home, according to The Marshall Project. Former inmates reentering society often get ensnared in a web of laws
that dictate their post-prison lives, from where they can live, to what they
can do for
a living, to whether they can ever vote.
In 2014, when the American
Bar Association conducted a national survey of “collateral consequences” —
legal restrictions imposed on people with criminal records — they found 44,500
different state and federal statutes.

In recent years, lawmakers and advocates have
attempted to roll
back some of these policies. Advocates in states including
Massachusetts, Texas and Idaho have waged legal challenges against overzealous
laws dictating where people on the sex-offender registry can live. And an
increasing number of state legislatures have voted to allow former drug
offenders to get food stamps. But thousands of restrictions, many of which
limit job opportunities and access to social services, still remain.

To review a sample of the 44,500 collateral consequences of crime CLICK HERE

About Matt

An analysis of crime and punishment from the perspective of a former prosecutor and current criminal justice practitioner.
The views expressed on this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions or postions of any county, state or federal agency.